Cathi Ryan Condert

One of the judges had a couple extra tickets to a concert so C and I went to see Cathie Ryan on Saturday night. She is a fabulous Celtic singer. It was really cool. She had a great voice and beautiful songs, but she was also very caring and fun. Her band was just a "kick in the pants". They made so many funny spontaneous jokes that kept running through out the night (the cow died) that you could tell they liked each other and had fun being around each other. (They were also so nice. We met them after the concert and they signed autographs and chatted with us.) The rest of the guys in her group were awesome. Patsy O'Brien is one of Ireland's most respected guitar accompanists and has a great voice - He sang one solo and it was amazing! I've never hear Irish soul and it was COOL!!!! C also really liked him. (I'm going to order his cd as well.) The fiddle player (Matt Mancuso) was the star fiddle player in the Lord of the Dance production. He was phenominal and very funny. Speaking of funny - They drummer was the craziest guy. I just loved him!!! Brian Melick played (bongos and this giant gourd). I can't believe the wide variety of sounds he could produce on those three instruments. He had the most expressionable face and was just having a great time. All in all. I highly recommend you go see Cathi Ryan in concert. It was truly inspirational and so very lovely.

C now wants to learn a couple Irish ditties (especially the naughty one she sang). This concert has inspired me to go Ireland. It's one of the places I've always wanted to go. (Probably growing up a proud Irish McDevitt has always put this as one of the top places I've always wanted to go. . . Mayan ruins and snorkeling in the Carribean were also up there.) I know the economy is really bad and going to get a lot worse. One of the ideas that has been swirling around in my head for the last couple months is trying to piggy back a trip to Ireland with our Spain trip. (There are several families who want to go to World Youth Day in Spain which is 2 years from this July.) We are meeting to get our fundraising in order and start figuring out our plans. (As an economy move, I have already asked my friend Su, if we could stay with her relatives (brother & his family) while were attending this week long pilgrimage and she thought they would be very open to that. I hope so.) So in my ideal world, I would book a flight to London spend a couple days there, then go to Ireland for a week before spending a week in Spain hanging with the Pope and his crew. But we'll see what reality brings, but it's good to hope.